Hines score NHRA victory at Atlanta on V-Rod motorcycle
The Staff of Clutch and Chrome
April 30th 2008
Screamin’
Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Andrew Hines won the Pro Stock
Motorcycle eliminations aboard a Harley-Davidson V-Rod at
the 28th Annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern
Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.
Hines set a
new track record as top qualifier for the event, and
defeated Chip Ellis in the final round of eliminations to
take his 14th career victory and assume the Pro Stock
Motorcycle season points lead.
“We used the three-week break since the last race to do a
lot of dyno work and it really paid off for the Screamin’
Eagle/Vance & Hines team,” said Hines. “My V-Rod was making
consistent power all weekend. Each run was perfect and we
were really having fun at the track today.”
The three-time world champion took control of the class in
Friday qualifying with run of 6.95 seconds that set a new
track record, and backed that up with another 6.95 pass on
Saturday to claim the top spot in eliminations for the 22nd
time in his career.
On Sunday, Hines charged through the elimination rounds,
beating Michael Phillips, Matt Guidera, and Craig Treble
with runs under seven seconds. In the final, Hines had a
tremendous .009-second reaction time on the lights and ran
his quickest pass of the event with a 6.946 to beat Ellis,
who ran 6.958 on the Schumacher Electric Suzuki.
“That light
in the final was a little bit of an accident, I wanted to go
in the teens,” said Hines. “I knew we would need a quick
start to run with Chip but that was cutting it a little
close.”
Eddie Krawiec rode the other Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines
V-Rod into the sixth qualifying spot with a 7.012 in the
final Saturday qualifying round. Krawiec (0.33, 6.989) lost
to Angelle Sampey (.015, 6.992) on reaction time in the
first round of eliminations.
The win by Hines and early exits of Guidera and Matt Smith,
who went out to Sampey in round two, moves Hines past those
riders and into the season points lead after three rounds in
the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Hines has 289
points, Guidera is second with 264 points, followed by Smith
with 251 and Chip Ellis with 248. Krawiec drops to sixth
spot with 145 points. NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycles will race
next at the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by
Castrol, May 2-4 at Gateway International Raceway in
Madison, Ill.
Screamin' Eagle Performance Parts are inspired by and built
in the spirit of the raw adrenaline and power of motorcycle
racing. Screamin' Eagle Pro parts are specifically designed
for race-use applications, while Screamin' Eagle parts offer
street-use performance options for the Harley-Davidson
motorcycle owner. Visit www.harley-davidson.com for more
information.
The Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines Pro Stock Motorcycle team
is sponsored by Ford Truck, Dunlop, Matco Tools and S100.
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